


Moving On

by justhuman



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Las Vegas, Season/Series 01-02 Hiatus, Season/Series 04-05 Hiatus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-07-13
Updated: 2004-07-13
Packaged: 2017-10-29 10:40:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/319007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justhuman/pseuds/justhuman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Giles, Xander and Cordelia are all invited to Larry's wedding in fabulous Las Vegas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving On

"Xander!"

Before Xander could even look up he was being mauled by a bear-like-creature in a pastel Hawaiian shirt. Okay, maybe it was some kind of hug, but Xander was really into the idea of breathing. Of course, none of that was that disturbing except for the swirl of a grass skirt against his bare calves.

"Larry! Breathe! Need to-" Xander's next words were cut off by the hard clap to his back and the air rushing out of his lungs. At the same time a plastic mug of what was probably cheap beer was being forced into his hand.

Larry's beefy fingers grabbed Xander by the back of the neck, not hard, but not in a way most people would term gentle either. It forced him to look up and acknowledge the, "love you, man" look that he was getting.

"Xander, I can't tell you how much it means to that you made it. You know I've made some decisions that have left me, you know, physically and emotionally separated from my family. It's good to know that I can count on old friends."

Silently, Xander was praying that there wouldn't be any crying. In a desperate attempt to break the intimacy of the moment, he raised his plastic cup and said, "Beer?"

"Beeeeeeeer!" Hit full in the face with the hot beer breath, Xander was relieved to find himself free again while everyone in the room erupted in the same chant. Suddenly he was alone in a sea of men--a sea of gay men -- he reminded himself. Xander did the only thing he could and chugged half his beer.

Right, sensitive _straight_ , supporting his gay buddy--well, not so much buddy, more like acquaintance who was paying for Xander's trip to Vegas. Coming out of high school, who the heck thought it was Larry that was going to make it big? But Xander wasn't knocking it, this was a weekend free of board games, 'bots, snarky vampires and fiancees. Larry had offered to pay for Anya too, but now that she had her hands on the Magic Box, she wasn't inclined to leave. At first she hadn't been up on Xander leaving either, but once he sold her on the idea that it was a wedding research mission she was all for it.

Slowly Xander made his way around the room, taking skewers of shrimp wrapped in bacon with little pineapple chunks off the platters being carried by waiters. The room was all themed out with tiki torches and a roasted pig on the buffet table, plenty to report back to Anya about. Xander was pleased to see that his khaki colored shorts were the preferred choice over grass skirts, and he did ugly Hawaiian with the best of them. The fitting in wasn't so tough, at least from the edge of the room. There were a few significant looks that were making him nervous, but Xander was a sensitive kind of guy, so he wasn't ruffled by it, much.

"Xander?"

There was a rustle of grass skirt, but it definitely wasn't Larry's voice. On the contrary, it sounded a lot like, "Cordelia?"

"Xander Harris, you are just about the last person on Earth I expected to find here." Cordelia said. Xander felt twitchy as her look became more appraising. "Did you go through some life changes after high school?"

"Changes-" Xander started and then caught on. "I'm engaged. To a woman."

"Geez, defensive much? I just didn't think you knew Larry and Steve that well."

"Steve?"

It was like Larry had telepathy. "Yo! Xander, Cordelia, I don't think you guys have met Steve, the light of my life, the fizz in my beer."

Steve was an impressively-sized man that somehow made Larry look tiny. He was also a particularly silent man, just standing there with his arm wrapped around Larry. Long, uncomfortable silences were never good, and Xander could feel his foot lifting itself to his mouth when out of nowhere he was saved by Cordelia.

"Steve, it's so good to meet you. You guys are such a cute couple."

More awkward silence. Steve and Larry, just stood there, drinking beer like a couple of star-struck 250 pound love birds.

"Nice to meet you, Steve." Xander said it with a smile on his face because the existence of Steve meant Larry would never hit on him. Xander's hand was extended in mid-air, but Steve's only response was to give Larry's hip a squeeze. Slowly Xander's hand dropped.

"So," Cordelia said, casting a look at Xander like somehow he should be able to fix this. When he didn't give her any help, she just went on. "I like the Luau theme. Never been to a pre-wedding party quite like this. Couple of frat parties, but this is much cooler than a frat party."

Xander was relieved to know that he wasn't alone in the foot in mouth department. "Definitely cooler than some of the ideas that Anya's running by me, but, you know, can't fight with the bride, can you?" He said it with a laugh, which trailed off as he looked at the two *grooms*.

"So, anyone else here from Sunnydale?"

"Oh, yeah!" Pulling out of Steve's arms, Larry stood up on his toes looking into the crowd. Without any warning, he grabbed some guy in a purple Hawaiian shirt, who was holding his hand over his face like he was trying to hide or something.

"You guys remember-"

"Giles!" Both Cordelia and Xander shouted it simultaneously.

"Yeah!" Larry was nodding in the same rhythm that his hand was pounding Giles' back. "But you guys used to hang out in library, so you'd know each other. Steve, Xander's the guy who helped me come out of the closet, Cordy hooked me up to all the gay clubs in LA, including Hombres." Larry and Steve shared a long and dreamy look. Giles had his glasses off and was rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Giles, when I last saw you _at the teary farewell_ , you were on your way back to England." Xander had crossed his arms in front of his chest, feeling pretty authoritative even if he was wearing a screaming orange shirt covered in palm trees.

"Y-yes. And I am. It's just that I was invited, so I made the stop in Las Vegas to attend." Giles cleared his throat. "Larry spent a good bit of time in the library during his senior year."

Xander and Cordelia were sharing doubtful looks.

"Yeah, I was trying to track down books on gay culture and coming out. Mr. Giles was great about ordering new books and sharing his magazines with me. You know, the kind of magazines that you _don't_ find in a library!" Larry was winking at Steve and the two of them started laughing like the Neanderthals they were.

Xander was having the unnatural feeling to step up and defend Cordy about the obvious references to porn, but Cordelia, always the one with a bigger mouth, beat him to it.

"What would you have wanted with magazines with naked girls in them?"

"Yeah, if they were pictures of naked guys, I could get that," Xander added.

Both Larry and Steve raised their eyebrows, looking at Cordy and Xander like they were some kind of dumb. Simultaneously Xander and Cordelia looked at Giles who was blushing and rolling his eyes at them.

"Oh."

***

"Wow, Wesley's straight, and you're gay? Who was ever gonna guess that?" Cordelia said to Giles and then dived into her complimentary prime rib like she hadn't eaten in a week.

Xander's fork stopped halfway to his mouth. "Wait. Wesley's straight?"

"Hello, I dated him; granted, not the wisest dating decision, but I wasn't known for those in Sunnydale was I?" Cordelia and Xander exchanged glares. "Besides, I've got newspaper clippings of him and his ex-girlfriend, the socialite."

Giles finished off his scotch and wondered where the waitress was so that he could have another. "I bloody well wouldn't count on that." He had meant to say it under his breath, but the other two obviously caught it.

"Oh, don't look so surprised. You've both seen me date women."

Cordelia was nodding as she chewed. "You know, that could explain a lot. Oh, yuck! I just got a mental visual of what Gunn and Wes' DVD night must look like."

Giles sighed. "Really, Cordelia, would you be this negative if a woman was involved, assuming, of course, that this Gunn is a man?"

"Hey, open-minded LA kinda girl. My disgust is just because it's Wesley."

Xander nodded. "You know, strangely, I'm going to have to go with her on that one. So, Giles, been gay for long?" He said that as if he were asking about the weather.

With no more alcohol forthcoming, Giles decided to dive into his meal. The luau had been an afternoon reception, and since they only really knew each other they had opted to exercise their complimentary meal tickets together after changing out of their island wear.

"Actually, I've been bisexual my entire life. I didn't date men until I was at university, if that's what you're asking, but I can't claim that I didn't have certain feelings before then."

He couldn't stop a certain amount defensiveness from creeping into his voice. Having come from a traditional background where it was considered a disappointment if one was found to play for the _other_ team, Giles had never discuss his feeling. He was expecting some amount of condemnation.

"Cool." Cordelia appeared to be done with the topic and at ease. Xander, on the other hand, still seem a bit uncomfortable.

"How come you didn't date guys in Sunnydale?" While Xander was known for speaking without thinking, this didn't seem to be the case. The look on his face was genuinely curious. A glance at Cordelia, who had stopped eating and now looking at him, told Giles that perhaps she wasn't as bored with the topic as she might have appeared a few moments earlier.

"Well, the simple answer is that I didn't have much time to date, but, since I did occasionally manage something that passed for a social life, I'd have to say it was because I didn't meet any men I wanted to date."

Giles wasn't particularly pleased with the answer. In all honesty, he had avoided dating men for a long time just so he wouldn't have to deal with the potential social pressures of having Buffy and the rest of them find out... such as the awkward silence that now fell between them. Of course now that he had put it that way, at least in his head, Giles decided that he would rather have awkward silences with Buffy than to not have her at all.

"I'm rather proud of Larry, I must say," he continued, trying to let thoughts of Buffy fade to the background again. "Based on what Larry was like during the early part of high school, I would have never predicted him becoming so open."

"Maybe it was the porn you were passing him." Cordelia said, lifting an enormous forkful of mashed potatoes to her mouth.

"I was no-" Well, it hadn't seemed like that at the time. "It was hardly appropriate for me to be doing; however, I felt there were extenuating circumstances."

"Hey, not judging. I'm just saying if there were pictures of naked...ugly swamp creatures in leisure suits." Cordelia's fork clattered to the table, her hand gripping her pinched forehead. As she swayed on the padded bench seat, Xander moved first, sliding out his chair on the opposite side of the table to grab her before she fell.

"Cordelia! Are you all right?" Giles reached across taking her other hand. Xander was looking to him for answers, but he had no guidance.

"Pen."

When neither of the men responded, Cordelia's tone became more distraught. "Pen! Write this down. Vision."

Pulling a small notepad from his pocket, Giles jotted down everything she said, resisting the urge to question her for more details. They were beginning to attract attention from the surrounding tables.

Cordelia took a deep breath and turned to the woman at the next table. "Migraine."

Xander stood up, gently putting a hand under Cordelia's elbow. "Maybe we should take you to your room.

Cordelia simply nodded

***

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Xander was a little worried because Cordelia had looked pretty rough around the edges when they had left her.

"I suspect that Cordelia has depths that we know nothing about," Giles said before glancing down at the map again.

They drove in silence, passing gray block walls with a sea of shingled roofs poking above them. Las Vegas seemed to be laid out weird like that. The flashy Strip area changed seamlessly into the cheesier lights of Downtown, into the older suburban areas with long avenues lined with strip malls, which finally gave way to the newer housing sections that they were driving through. Along the way, the bright lights became infrequent, and empty desert lots occasionally broke the city landscape.

"Do you think people feel safe with all these block walls? Xander asked. I mean, it's not like there are battlements or even gates.

"I suspect that they may have the illusion of it. Of course, they probably aren't worried about much beyond simple robbery."

"It's kinda funny or maybe sad that they're afraid enough to build walls, but they don't even know what real danger is. I mean, in Sunnydale they deny the things that go bump in the night and just go on with normal-looking neighborhoods." When Xander glanced away from the road for a moment, he spotted Giles looking thoughtfully at him. Shifting restlessly, he adjusted his hands on the steering wheel.

"I think you'll find that people have such a deep need for normalcy that they'll often do the most outlandish things to keep up the facade. Pretend walls give them protection, vampire attacks are only tragic neck ruptures. Really people are quite inventive. Look at Larry. He spent most of high school acting like an insensitive barbarian obsessed by sports."

Xander raised an eyebrow. "And are you pretending he's not a dumb jock to make yourself feel better about coming to the wedding?"

Giles chuckled. It was a sound that gave Xander comfort somehow. "Allow me to rephrase. Larry participated all the activities with his peers that remotely indicated interest in women. Somehow he thought that it would bring him protection. Just think, if you hadn't convinced Larry that he should stop hiding-"

"He told you that."

"Oh yes, you were his savior. He wanted you to come out as well."

"Yeah, well I might have left him with a slightly, totally wrong impression about my sexuality."

"Yes, and I didn't dissuade him of that. But just think of how far he might have carried the lie. Instead of Steve, he might be planning a wedding right now to a lovely woman, whom he undoubtedly would love, but perhaps not with his entire heart."

Xander had to slam on the breaks so he didn't plow through the intersection ahead of them. He hadn't even seen the red light. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it; we all miss signals along the way."

***

The Glitter Canyon beckoned them in, promising the biggest cash jackpots, bowling and bingo. After parking, they headed in through the main entrance and were immediately assaulted by the bells and whistles of electronic poker and mega-slots.

"Where are we heading?" Xander asked.

Looking around, Giles pulled out his notes from Cordelia. To be honest they looked much more like instructions for a scavenger hunt. "We're looking for the stairs behind the 'really big blinking cactus.'"

The men started moving though the casino through a haze of cigarette smoke. It was rather unusual for them because in most of California cigarettes had been practically anathema. It was something that Giles would need to become reacquainted with now that he was returning to Europe. Truth be told, he wanted a cigarette; casinos really were bad influences.

"Think that might be what we're looking for?" Xander asked.

Just behind a twenty-foot-high slot machine with a line of fifty people waiting for their pull was a floor to ceiling cactus with individual lights racing up and down its length.

"I would assume so. Don't you think the giant slot machine might have been a better landmark?"

"Yeah, but I guess we're lucky that Cordy didn't use a fabulous pair of high heels as reference."

As they made their way around the giant machine, Giles could see people pulling a small slot machine arm. It apparently activated the much larger arm, which was visible halfway across the casino. Some people were coming away with small amounts of cash, but most seemed to be getting some form of voucher when cherries came up. More rarely the stylized word _spa_ came up and the person or couple were happily shuttled through and arch behind the machine.

Near the back of the machine there was a row of quarter slots and Giles pulled Xander towards them, dropping in a coin and stabbing at the button that made the wheels spin. "Is the way clear?"

Pulling some change out of his pocket, Xander offered it to Giles and at the same time put his back to an out of order machine, taking a look around.

"The winners from the machine are going through one door. Next to it is a short corridor; it's got a stairs down sign."

"Good."

"And a guard."

"Not as good. What did Cordelia say? We needed to get to some kind of party?"

"Yeah, she did."

Xander shrugged and started walking towards the guard, Giles close behind.

"Sorry, no admittance."

"We're here for the party," Giles said.

"It's a private party. Guests are coming in from the street entrance. So unless you're the entertainment..."

"Yup, that's us, the entertainment," Xander chimed in quickly.

"The male strippers?" The guard shrugged at Xander and rolled his eyes at Giles. "Who sent you?"

Oh, bloody hell. Cordelia hadn't alerted them to any of these complications. And what had that look been about? "Look, I'm his manager."

"Manager." There was nothing but doubt in the man's voice

"I need someone to carry my g-string Giles was about to protest vehemently when Xander rolled his hips, danced to the wall, grapping one of the support posts for the giant cactus, using it like a pole.

The guard was looking less doubtful. "Who sent you?"

There was an awkward silence as Giles looked at his notes, wishing Cordelia had given them real details. Finally he just said the first name that popped into his head. "Larry."

"You coulda just said that." The guard stepped aside, allowing them to pass.

They both hesitated for a moment and then practically bolted towards the stair door.

Giles bloody well had a picture of Xander grinding against the electronic cactus in his head. It wasn't a bad image; it simply wasn't one that he had had before. And that was a bit more than a white lie. "That was rather impressive. Where did you learn-"

Xander stopped. "Okay, Oxnard. I needed a job. We're not talking about this." Xander turned to move again and then stopped. "Impressive?"

"Well, not that I've spent much time..." Giles cleared his throat. "Fairly impressive." Xander was staring at him. "Look, if you like we could go to Larry and Steve's bachelor party and garner the opinion of a room full of experts-"

"Okay, stop." Putting up his hands, Xander walked ahead, opened the door and headed down the stairs.

Giles did the only thing he could: followed and checked out Xander's backside.

***

Men. Lots of half-naked men. Dancing. With each other.

Disturbed him, no. Surprised him, yes. Xander had been expecting a room of half-drunk, screaming women. Maybe what surprised Xander more was that he wanted to dance. After he got over utter shock of what he had been doing in Oxnard, it had been fun--the feel the music pounding through him without the Cordelias of the world waiting to call him a dork. If this weren't a room full of strangers and Giles weren't standing right behind him, Xander might just have danced.

"Do you see the demons?"

"Demons?"

"Xander, focus. We're here to prevent what Cordelia saw in her vision. Green pulsing light, people dancing--it's as she described. Where's the altar?"

Focus, right. "Isn't that guy from the luau?"

Giles frowned. "Oh dear god, is this _the_ bachelor party?"

Larry rushed them. "Xander! Giles! Woooooo, I was afraid you guys weren't going to make it!"

"Can I kill Cordelia. I mean, I know I've asked for things like this before, but this time I think I mean it."

"Not if I get to her first."

Larry's beefy arms were around both of them, pulling them onto the dance floor. "Guys, the strippers are supposed to be here soon, so in the meantime dance!"

Abandoned in the middle of the dance floor, they just stared at each other, standing stock-still.

Xander wanted to dance.

"Xander, do you think she did this on purpose?" Giles waved his hands and then planted them on his own hips. Then Xander watched as an arm slid around Giles' waist and a tall blond began grinding his hips into Giles' ass. It wasn't like Giles started dancing, but he started to cooperate, and it looked like he let himself be pulled deeper onto the dance floor, slowly fading into the crowd and leaving Xander standing there.

What the hell. Closing his eyes, Xander felt the bass pumping through him, vibrating through his limbs. Just like Oxnard--no, in Oxnard he was doing it for the money, same dance routine night after night. Xander let out a breath that he had been in holding. He pulled in another really quickly and then let it out in a rush. Now his heart was starting to pound to the beat, driving his breathing.

Xander moved.

With his eyes closed, he could let his hips move him, his arms and legs extensions of his breathing and the music. He panicked for a just a second, feeling himself all alone, thought about his feet and almost tripped. He couldn't open his eyes because then it would all unravel. With his hand low on his stomach, he breathed from the center.

And Xander danced.

In Oxnard there had been a screaming crowd. Most people would have been really intimidated; Xander had been the first night he stepped out onto to the stage, holding onto his breakaway pants for dear life. One of the other guys had given him the tip that saved him; close your eyes and pretend they're the girls from your dreams all wanting a piece of you. Xander had done that. Sometimes when a lady got a stray touch in, he saw Buffy's face or Cordy's or Sophia Loren. Sometimes Xander imagined that the hands were bigger, stronger, calloused; he didn't see faces with those.

Vegas was a city full of people, and he wasn't alone for long. Hands, bold ones, moved over him, guiding him, creating space. When Xander's own hand reached out there were angles and a hard flat chest. Heat. Some kind of plastic cup was pressed to his hands. Normally, he would have inspected it, looked at the person that had handed it to him, but Xander's eyes were closed and opening them wasn't an option.

The Jell-o shot went down nice.

***

Giles was having a smoke and a second scotch at the bar. It had been too bloody long since he had been felt up, or, for that matter, done any feeling up. Even though it wasn't his music or the dances he knew, Giles wasn't feeling that old or out of place. There were glances being tossed his way, and, if he wanted, there was probably some quiet corner to bring a new friend.

But he was at the bar, letting the mood build and watching Xander dance.

There was something gratifying to know what he had guessed correctly, that the boy had protested just a bit too much all these years. It made him angry as well, because Giles was fairly sure that a night on the dance floor wouldn't be any great revelation. It would only be a nagging sensation at the back of Xander's head when he brought Anya to the altar.

Giles wanted to kiss him, and perhaps a bit more than that. A lot more. It wasn't as if the thought hadn't crossed his mind before. There had definitely been boundaries that needed to be respected several years ago, and out of habit, Giles had continued to observe them. That didn't mean he hadn't looked; how could he not look? Downing his drink, he thumped it on the bar, gesturing for another. It wasn't courage Giles was after. Boldness was a much better term; something he had try to put down for too many years.

Xander could be annoying, of that there was no doubt, but there was a lot more to that young man that went beyond a hard body and a nice face. There was no doubt that Anya saw this in Xander too. Giles did care about Anya; he cared about both of them, but he couldn't stop them from making mistakes, like rushing into a marriage that neither of them had thought out completely.

He lit another cigarette and watched Xander be passed from one set of hands to another, downing the occasional shot. He appeared to be completely oblivious to whoever was touching him. Was Xander imagining them to be the hands of women?

Stubbing out his fag, Giles worked his way through the dance floor, smiling, touching. The man holding Xander's hips had been doing so just a bit too long, a bit too possessively. Giles tried a gentle nudge, but the man didn't budge, not until Giles rose to his full height and stared him down.

Somewhere along the way, Xander had pulled off his shirt, stuffing it in his belt. Sweat glistened across his bare back and torso; it was all Giles could smell when he buried his face into Xander's neck. With one arm lightly wrapped around the Xander's waist, Giles let himself be moved to the rhythm, pressing and grinding his hips into his partner's.

***

Xander had been more than a little hard for more than a little while. Any feelings of nervousness and faded the more he moved, a light buzz settling in from the alcohol--it was all good. His eyes remained steadfastly closed, because to open them would have meant destroying the fantasy about what was going on beyond his eyes.

This way it was only about moving and being a little too hard and a little too warm in all the right ways. It was a precarious moment when everything felt right, where even though his body was screaming for more, his mind wasn't screaming about other things like who and how and fiancees at home.

Somehow the wet mouth on his neck was making it better. The wandering hands, playing with his abs and pinching his nipples were adding to the firestorm in his belly. When one of those hands brushed over the length of the cotton covering his cock, he gasped and bucked, adding it to his dance.

"It's all right to want this."

The deep voice in his ear was like a sonic caress, cutting through the heavy bass of the dance music. There were alarm bells ringing, not just that it was a man, but a specific man. That wasn't enough to make Xander move other than to dance in response to the music and the touch. Logical outcomes both good and ill were not weighed because this was the _moment_ and it was all about that.

Somewhere in the midst of the noise a cell phone was ringing, but Xander would be damned before he picked it up.

"Hello?"

Oh, this wasn't good. It wasn't moment inducing.

"Yes Cordelia, we found the place you directed us to. Really, the whole display in the restaurant simply to get us to the bachelor party was rather crude."

No, no. Xander pretended that he didn't hear that name, threatening to take away his moment, not to mention his hard on.

"Don't- St- Really it isn't necessary to shout. Yes, we're at Larry and Steve's bachelor party and, no, we haven't spotted any demons."

Hard to dance when your partner stops moving.

"Yes, yes I've got it all. They're performing a ritual. Look out for the people in white robes. What?"

Xander stopped moving. Moment passed.

"Well, they have an open bar, and Xander's playing pool. Really, I didn't realize there were supposed to be male strippers. And yes, we'll be careful."

"Xander."

"I heard." Xander said, letting his eyes fly open. Most people weren't looking at him, only the nearby dancers that were wondering why they were just standing there, or that's what Xander guessed. Finding his shirt tangled in his belt, he began pulling it on, looking around the room, anywhere but at Giles.

"We're to be looking for demons and white robes."

"Catwalk. We can probably get a better view from up above." Xander started walking, just walking though the crowd of dancing guys. He didn't fight the occasional stray hand; he just kept walking. Once they hit the perimeter, Xander moved faster, looking for a way up.

"Xander, are you all right?"

Xander stopped so suddenly that Giles ran into him. Even through his shirt, the contact felt like it burned, and he flinched away.

"I'm fine. We've got stuff to do, right?"

Xander wasn't expecting to be pushed into the wall.

"You need to focus." With his hands, Giles lightly pinned Xander, fully aware that he probably couldn't hold him there for long.

Their eyes met briefly before Xander started once again looking at everything other than Giles.

"Okay, focusing might happen better without the physical contact."

Releasing Xander, Giles immediately brought his hand up to massage the bridge of his nose. "Look, I understand a lot more than you think I do."

Rapping his own head against the wall, Xander finally looked Giles in the eye. "What, you think that was normal, that that was me? I care about Anya; I love her."

Giles could feel his hand tightly balling into a fist. "How often do you think you'll have to say that before you believe it?"

Xander pulled himself off the wall and took a step into Giles personal space, a move that didn't phase Giles in the least.

"I. Love. Anya."

Trying to put a tight lid on the out-of-proportion anger that he was feeling, Giles forced his voice to come out slow and in a reasonable volume. "I don't doubt that you love her. What I seriously doubt is that you have ever spent more than ten minutes trying to determine where you want to be in life. Instead, you cling to what's expected." It was a relief to finally say it out loud, ending years of biting his tongue.

"What, fighting vampires and the forces of evil aren't enough for you? Hell, I'm about to marry a reformed vengeance demon--how much more open minded about the world do you want me to get?" Agitation was rippling across Xander's shoulders as he leaned in, his breath hot in Giles' face. They were shouting at each other to be heard above the music, but no one was close enough to hear.

"I think that if you want to do more than love Anya and actually want to be _fair_ with her, then you'll begin being honest about what you feel when another man touches you. For Christ's sake, at least admit it to yourself. So what were you feeling about two minutes ago?" Giles somehow knew the last question was more about getting his own ego stroked, but he was too angry to back off and look at it neutrally.

Stepping away, Xander forced a shirt button through its hole, flicking his shoulder trying to make the shirt stop sticking to his sweat drenched body. He began walking toward a door to the service area. "Cordelia said we should be on the look out for people about to be sacrificed, right?"

Following Xander into the brightly lit service corridor, Giles looked for a weapon. He knew full well that fighting with Xander was not conducive to either of them focusing, but he didn't want to stop. "When I was seventeen, I was quite certain that I was going to die if I had to attend another boring mixer with all the other young Watchers. They were always drab affairs under the watchful eyes of our elders hoping to inspire us into pairing up and creating the next generation. I always used to leave there with a date lined up because that was the easiest way to keep them quiet."

Xander was working on unstrapping a fire ax from the wall. "I'd like to repeat, because you don't seem to be listening, I love Anya."

"I love Buffy and Willow and my Aunt Elizabeth but I am not about marry them and father children." Giles picked his way through a service cart, tucking a large screwdriver in his back pocket and unscrewing the handle of a push broom from its bristles.

Xander stopped, turning around and planting his hands on his hips. "In what demented world do you think that is remotely equal to me loving Anya?"

Yanking the stairwell door open with makeshift quarterstaff in hand, Giles started up the stairs. "What I am saying is that there are different kinds of love and sometimes they aren't always clear. Did you or did you not have a brief romance with your best friend?"

Giles could hear Xander stop behind him; turning, he found a fiery glare to match his own.

"That has _nothing_ to do with this. None of this has anything to do with how I feel about Anya."

Walking down a few steps, Giles stopped when they could face each other eye-to-eye. "Why isn't Anya here? She hates being left out of anything, and she's regaled me time and again with tales about the unfaithful man and the temptations of Sin City."

"I told you already that she didn't want to leave the shop. And she wasn't worried because, hello, I'd be spending the weekend with a bunch of gay guys."

Giles didn't doubt there was some truth in that, but Xander's tone was also telling him that it was part lie. "Why did you want to spend the weekend with a bunch of gay guys without her? Never mind, I felt your arse rubbing up against my cock."

Turning, Giles walked up the stairs, finally agreeing that the conversation was pointless. He was nearly to the top before he could hear Xander making his way up. Giles opened the door at the top and was assaulted by the music once again.

***

Xander caught the door and followed Giles out onto the metal walkway, keeping his distance and trying to collect himself. Oh yeah, he was definitely feeling focused now, not.

He loved Anya, enough to ask her to marry him, enough to face the prospect of eternity or at least old age and that was the end of it. Just because he was getting married didn't mean that he stopped being a guy. Did he not ogle pin up magazines with the guys at work? Did he not smile appreciatively while his co-workers whistled and made catcalls at all the pretty girls walking by? Did he not appreciate the ripple of muscles along Bill Sullivan's back when he mudded a seam in a sheet of drywall?

He did not notice Bill Sullivan, and he never, _never_ wondered what it might be like if Giles were to touch him like he did every moldy book in the Sunnydale library. He never imagined the dream hands touching him in Oxnard were Giles'. He never snuck down to the Espresso Pump to watch unseen from the back corner. He never lingered too long in the coat closet in Giles' apartment just to smell the scent of tweed mixed with Giles.

"Oh, fuck."

"Indeed."

Xander focused again to see what Giles was looking at. The ceiling was crisscrossed with twenty-foot-wide swooping sheets of colored tarp, disguising elaborate lighting systems. In the center of the ceiling there was a platform, a small stage, strung on a cable system, like it could be lowered onto the dance floor.

"White robes. Funny, I thought that it would be the demons wearing those."

"Yes. Apparently the lucky winners of the spa experience up in the casino are not as lucky as they thought." One by one, limp humans wrapped in terrycloth robes bearing the hotel logo were being lowered onto the platform from a trap door. They were being arranged in a circle, heads towards the center where a demon was already chanting, nasty looking machete in hand.

"That woman just twitched, and some of them are tied up. They're alive."

"I expect not for long."

The catwalk they were on stretched around the perimeter of the room. From their vantage point, Xander spotted a bridge on the far side of the room, extending out to the stage. Tapping Giles, Xander pointed to it as he started walking. Almost immediately, Giles tugged on his shoulder, pulling Xander down low. There were guards carrying swords guarding the bridge.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Xander said, trying to ignore the physical closeness they were forced into.

"I'm not sure. What did Cordelia say?"

"Ritual to some rock and roll demon."

"Rock and-"

"Okay, enough with the exact wording. It's not like Cordelia gave us the textbook description. She said there was going to be a lot of sex and blood." A glance at the dance floor explained the sex, and Xander thought that they had figured out the blood part too.

"A carnal act and sacrifice. If we can stop one than the other won't do any good."

"Right, we can't get to the guy about to take out the spa-goers, so we should try and stop the dancing." They both looked down.

Giles sighed. Xander didn't hear it so much as feel the warm breath on the back of his neck. And fuck again, he thought.

"Things are a little too hot around here; nothing short of a four alarm fire is going to stop them down there." Xander wished dearly that they would come up with a plan because that would give him an excuse to move away from Giles.

"That's it; fire alarm. There's one at the bottom of the stairs where you picked up your ax."

"Right!" Xander was on his feet, moving back the way they had come. The two demons blocking his path were a bit of a shock. They must have been spotted.

His ax collided with one of the demons' swords sending nasty vibrations down his arm from the strength of the blow. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the other sword thrusting straight for his middle. The catwalk wasn't wide enough to fight two abreast, but the second demon was trying to sneak in any kind of shot.

The unfortunate part was that it was working. Xander knew he wasn't dodging quickly enough when a long piece of wood shot out just in time, jabbing the second demon in the eye and causing it to drop the sword. Lifting the ax again, Xander spotted Giles ramming the wounded demon in what should have been the crotch. The demon didn't seem to notice and was beginning to straighten up still holding a hand over its eye.

Taking a low swipe, Xander made his attacker jump back, which gave him enough room to kick the fallen sword back towards Giles. A quick glance around told Xander that they had company coming in the other direction. The only escape was a metal ladder leading up to the ceiling and the lighting bars and cloth and...

Giles had already picked up the sword, moving past Xander to go head-to-head with the demon, who was unharmed. For a second, he stopped to watch, because Giles was that good, but this wasn't the time for that. Snatching up the forgotten broom handle, Xander started double-timing up the ladder.

"Xander, I'm going to need some help!"

"One fire alarm on the way."

"Xander!" Giles took a huge lunge at the demon, forcing it back long enough so that Giles could follow up the ladder.

There really wasn't anything Xander could do to help, so he kept climbing until he was at the top. Looping one foot around the ladder, he started swinging with the broom at the target above him. One, two, three strikes. But hey, you got three outs or something like that. He was never going to reach from here. Getting his footing again, Xander turned so his back was against the ladder and tossed the broom handle into one of the swooping tarps. With a quick look to Giles who was beating back the demon climbing behind him, Xander leapt.

He knew he wasn't breathing. What he didn't realize was that the screaming he heard was his own voice, at least not for a minute or maybe it had been a few seconds, he had no freaking idea. He was safely nestled in a divot in the cloth and almost too terrified to move. Mission. Needed to focus.

Reaching out, he was able to grab the broom handle. Slowly he raised himself to his knees and swung again. One, two, Bingo! He was being sprayed by water from a broken sprinkler head. There was a lag, maybe ten seconds, just to enough to think it was all pointless, when the fire alarms started going off and every sprinkler in the room was raining down on the room.

Since he was sunk into the cloth, he couldn't see much beyond the ceiling, and he wasn't about to make his way to the edge. He could only hope that the loud shouting from below was people leaving. God, he hoped Giles was all right, because there was no freaking way for him to go back the way he came.

Shimmying forward, he started heading for the stage in the middle of the ceiling.

***

Giles was roundly cursing both the demons and Xander when the sprinklers went off, and he smiled. "Bloody brilliant!" He let the demon take one more step up the slippery metal and then slammed his foot into its face and quickly stomped onto the fingers holding the rung below him. The demon fell and took his companions down with him.

Knowing that this was only a temporary victory, Giles shot up the ladder, careful to keep his own footing, and eyed the path that Xander had taken. From his vantage point he could see that the platform was in chaos. The water had apparently revived some of the victims, and they were fighting their captors.

Xander was working his way toward the center, which seemed to be the only choice Giles might have in the matter too. Deciding the best course of action was not to jump onto the same ribbon of cloth that Xander was on, Giles tossed his sword into the next one over and jumped.

Not hesitating, he grabbed the sword and started crawling towards the center. It wasn't like the experience hadn't scared him. Frankly, he was fairly sure that he had been terrified, but anger and adrenaline were wonderful things. He had no idea how much time had passed since the last time he had done anything like this.

Sparing a quick glance behind him, he could see a demon at the top of the ladder and water collecting behind him on the fabric. The demon tossed his sword onto Xander's cloth and leapt. Damn it!

"Xander, watch behind you!" Pointless. The sirens and the music were too loud.

"Shit!"

Damn-it! That had been Xander. Before Giles could shout again, there was something else, an inhuman scream and something loud hitting the floor.

" _Xander!_ "

"Giles! I'm here."

Beyond that, Giles couldn't make out anything; the noise was unbearable. Taking a look over his shoulder, he could see that the remaining demons had learned their lesson about jumping onto slippery ramps. Instead, they were attempting to hack apart the ropes anchoring the swag he was making his way along. Giles tried to double his speed.

***

Xander's hand had grabbed the mounting bar at just same moment that his world turned sideways.

***

Giles weight dragged the cloth down on top of one of the lighting bars. He had no idea if the thing would support his weight, but he suspected changing venues was better than plummeting to the floor. Abandoning the sword, Giles worked his way to the side, grabbed the support cable and got his foot on the bar.

Carefully balancing himself, he stood up. There were cross-over points and short distances between the lighting bars and other structures, like an aerial obstacle course. The stage was a disaster area with various ritual materials scattered across the surface. There was blood, a handful of humans unconscious or dead, and at least one dead demon. It was promising.

What was much less promising was the way that Xander was hanging on for dear life from the bar holding his cloth. The demons had managed to cut down the supports, leaving the cloth to dangle halfway to the floor. So much for taking his time. Giles began to move.

***

There was a point in his youth when Xander had been the master of the monkey bars. It wasn't so much Willow's thing, but he and Jesse had had competitions--fastest one across, standing on top without falling off and splitting your skull on the concrete. Yeah, they had been idiots, but Xander thought he had all of their childhood antics beat now.

Right, think. Couldn't hold on forever, especially with the water pouring down on him, making everything slick. The supports for the stage looked like they could be close enough. Swinging was going to be rough on his arms but falling was going to be worse on the rest of him.

Taking a deep breath, he started to swing, thinking like a trapeze artist and cursing the damn rod for having no action. The cloth was so heavy that the bar was practically immobile. Trying again, Xander was surprised that he connected with his foot. Inspired, mostly because his arms were already ready to fall off, he kept going. On about the fifth swing, he managed to hook his foot in the grillwork.

This was it, had to try. Gripping the wet cloth, he lowered himself about a foot. It gave him enough slack to work his foot farther in, and hook onto the grill with his other foot. Sliding a little further down the cloth, he moved past horizontal and was hanging a bit upside down when he finally hooked one knee firmly around the bar and then the second. Closing his eyes, Xander let go.

***

As he worked his own way across, Giles watched Xander's progress with his heart in his throat. He let out a pent up breath when Xander finally seemed to be in a more stable position. By the time he hit the stage, Giles was bruised and his hands were cut from the metal fittings on the cables.

Rushing to the side, he found Xander still dangling from his awkward perch.

"Xander!" Giles was on his knees, reaching though the safety railing.

"Giles, nice to see you." Xander was stretching out his arms, downward.

"It might be prudent to let me help you up so you're not dangling a hundred feet over the floor."

"Probably."

"Xander?" Giles didn't know what the hell was going on; he could see firemen on the floor, beginning to rush around. They needed to get out.

Finally Xander began reaching for him. "I've been thinking about when I was a kid. Jesse and I used to climb stuff, anything, everything. Willow not so much."

"Good training?" Giles had no idea what say and just kept stretching until their hands could lock together.

"We used to scare Willow, but it was a guy thing, we needed to get to the highest places."

Giles now had both hands, and without saying anything they were already working to get a better hold by clasping wrists.

"My favorite spot was the top of the oak tree in the edge of the woods. The limb was like a foot around, real sturdy but short. You could see everything from there. I'd slide up and hug the trunk. Jesse would get behind me, hanging to me on so he wouldn't fall."

"I've got you, Xander." Their eyes met for the first time.

"I let him fall, Giles. I wasn't there to stop the bad guys. I put the stake in his chest."

"Xander! I've got you." Giles forced all the authority he ever had into his voice.

Xander nodded and said, "On three?"

Giles inclined his head, and they counted together. When Xander was able to grip the railing, Giles stood up to help pull him over the top. Almost glad for the non-stop rain for cooling him off, he was shocked at how cold Xander was, shaking from the water, the exertion, the memories.

Ignoring the need to leave, Giles wrapped his arms tightly around Xander so they were standing chest to chest and held on tight.

"Giles, you asked me about Willow before--the different kind of love thing." Xander was looking over his shoulder, so Giles couldn't see what was going on in the other man's face. What he felt was Xander, returning the hug, holding tight. What he could hear was uncertainty.

"I think that if I had seen Jess in his prom tux, I might have kissed him, too."

With a hard squeeze, Giles loosened his grip so he could pull back and see Xander's face.

"Giles! Xander!" The voice was unexpected.

"What the..." Xander seemed somewhat disoriented. Giles gave his arm a quick squeeze and then gently pulled Xander's hands off his waist.

Cordelia came down the metal ladder from the above, carrying a machete. "Thank god you guys are all right."

"Cordelia, I thought you were at the hotel."

"What, and miss all the wet and the gore?" She pulled on the front of her shirt, examining the ruin. "I was feeling, you know, less like death when I called, so I figured I'd come and help. I got three of them, how did you guys do?"

"Three?" Both men looked at her in shock.

"Hello, it's my job, and I've been training with Angel." She looked at them defiantly. "Well, not in the holding the sword sense, although, it's not like that is a bad idea." Cordelia was looking thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged as she continued, "Training's been more about picking up how to fight dirty. I snuck up behind two of them and knock them out. I dropped a forty-pound bucket of pool chemicals on that guy." She pointed to the dead demon in the middle of the stage.

"Right. Maybe we should go?" Xander said.

"Yes, quite. We should check on the wedding party," Giles added.

"Pftt." Cordelia waved her hand in dismissal as she turned to head back up the ladder. "They're outside, having a wet t-shirt contest."

***

All three of them were in Giles hotel room, exhausted.

"Just saying, gay guys, good dancers." Cordelia said sleepily

"The wedding was quite nice. I must say, I've never seen the groom...and groom slam dance at the reception." Giles took another sip of his scotch.

"It suited Larry. Slam dancing and kissing guys." Xander took a pull on his beer, glancing at Giles, who raised an eyebrow. Xander shrugged.

Cordelia yawned again. "Right, I'm going to my room, going to sleep, and I'll see you at lunch because breakfast, so not part of the picture."

"Night, Cordy."

"Sleep well, Cordelia."

The two men sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, and then Giles downed his scotch. Standing up, he stood in front of Xander, offering his hand.

With a smile, Xander took it and pulled himself up. "Yeah, I guess it's getting late."

"Very late, more like overdue." Not letting go of Xander's hand, Giles pulled their bodies close, bringing their mouths together.

At first Xander was very still, but then he moved, returning the kiss. There was an uncertainty in the younger man's movements that Giles didn't let deter him. Wrapping his arms around Xander, he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue past willing lips.

It was long and slow. Giles' heart was beating faster, the blood rushing through him. As the kiss ended, Xander looked questioningly at Giles, who knew that there were probably one too many things wrong with this situation.

"They say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," Giles said.

Xander nodded. "I guess I was kinda counting on that when I came here this weekend."

Running his hand from Xander's shoulder to chest, Giles wanted to act, wanted to shove Xander back onto the bed and fall on top of him. But he waited for Xander to make a decision.

"A friend told me recently that I should think about being fair to Anya. So I was thinking it was late and maybe I should go back to my room."

A sinking feeling washed through Giles' chest. He nodded, releasing Xander. "Of course."

Xander gave a half-smile, taking a few steps towards the door before he stopped. There was a long pause where Giles could only watch, and then Xander cocked his head to the side. "It might be better if I went back knowing for sure how I felt."

There was a moment of hesitation as Giles took that in, having his own internal debate about fairness. Finally he walked forward and pressed himself against Xander's back, wrapping his arms around the other man's waist. "Why don't you close your eyes, and we'll dance?"

Xander let out a breath and then began to move.

~end~

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Poison in the[Ripper Ficathon](http://www.livejournal.com/users/mrsdrake/13878.html), who wanted Xander, Cordelia, humor, threats, someone being tied up. Fic takes place the summer between Buffy S4 and S5 and Angel S1 and S2. An AU because I decided that Larry really did survive _Graduation_ , despite the canon evidence to the contrary ;-)
> 
> Notes: Thanks to [Flaming Muse](http://www.livejournal.com/users/flaming_muse%22)for the wonderful beta.


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